Development Update: The Stats Revamp

I'm pretty certain the revamp doesn't extend to iconics at this stage those powers will likely still suck at least initially

The more I think about the changes the more I think we are going to be dpsing like the iconics or lpve. I don't like the though of that, I liked playing from the tray, and I liked AM. I don't really see how all the powers are going to be balanced either unless like someone mentioned, tier 1 powers do the same damage, tier 2 powers do the same damage and so on. Combo vs dot vs burst vs pet seems like it might be to much for them to get right.

I like the option of possibly being able to use any power in my loadout, but I won't believe it possible until I can see it for myself. My main concern is with content though, how hard is it going to be after this update, that will determine if I walk for good.

How is this gonna effect new players

This is the type of news that actually tempts me to return to the game. I absolutely love the idea that all of the gimmicks are being removed, especially with AM. Yet, the fact that the power point system is being removed also, is beyond a dream come true for me. Why? For one, I was never a fan of feeling restricted to the amount of powers we could choose from to create our loadouts. Now, with such a change being introduced, I'll finally be able to create my dream loadout. Which, I'm not revealing to anybody, haha. But, that excites me and for the first time in over a year, I've just regained a sense of hope for this game. I'm not entirely sold, yet it's a step in the right direction. I'm looking forward to this #StatsMatter change.

It should, theoretically, make it easier for them to understand their powers. Since they get access to all the abilities in their powerset they won't be spending power points on abilities they have no clue about. At certain levels they will get a new power. They'll go to see what that power is, read about it (hopefully) and use it. The stat progression will also be much clearer. This should make it better for new players than it is currently.

I envision dpsing to be like 2011-2013. Which is fine by me. No more cookie cutter loads....nice. There are powers I really enjoyed that I haven't been able to use in years. Now being back power interactions like consume objects.

Yeah, clipping is coming back. That's the one thing i'm bummed out about, but it can't be helped. At least the updated dovetails are still going to be in play, from the sound of it. That much less confusion now than going back to the more exploitable original system of combat.

Looking back on the original game, what powers you used, and when, determined how much damage you did in total. Remember, with AMs everything is pew pew pew AOE centric. The original powers were not. It was much more situational. If you were stepping into a room full of trash adds, it still mattered if they were spaced out far apart from each other, or were clustered in a narrow hallway where they could not escape your few AOEs. You also had to pay more attention to damage splitting. Taking on too many targets at once actually dropped your potential DPS (also splitting crits) vs tackling only as many at a time before splitting would kick in.

To get the most damage, you're going to want to observe enemy layouts more closely when this releases, and using armories or power switching as the situation changes, room to room, may amount to being much more efficient for an entire run rather than sticking to one loadout for everything. People still do this for supercharges, slapping them back on for a boss fight. Now with all powers unlocking for everybody, you're all going to have the freedom to do more situational switches that the majority of players couldn't do before (those that never bought an armory, or those whose power trees were too restrictive to allow more flexibility)

Not sure what buffaloes have to do with it, but performance in this new system will depend more on skill (using attacks effectively, clipping appropriately, building your character stats appropriately, positioning in fights, etc. ), rather than the way it is currently (selecting the easiest, most OP powerset/weapon and using a few attacks in a brain-numbing repetitive sequence).

Can I ask a serious question? When I run Harley's Heist and go into the first room, second, or third room if I hit one enemy I get jumped by 6 8 sometimes 10 enemies all at once. It happens every single time, which I believe is probably a bug with the agro proximity, with AM I am able to handle this, what is going to happen in combat with the new changes coming. I can't be any more careful, I'm only hitting one enemy now and getting jumped, without the AM how are we suppose to handle this now.

This wasn't long at all

I fear the same as you, kinda. I feel like this is taking two steps backwards which is ok if they plan on taking four steps forward with it but there was a reason why the DPS powers went AM in the first place. I feel like if they don't address that underlining problem we'll be back at square one. As old as the game is, this shouldn't be a problem anymore and I hope they can address this and move on from it to bigger and bette things.

They must be bleeding money and subs. Too many 'big news, big changes' mixed with money grabs. It's insane. All within a month or two time span as well. Get these guys some adderal or something.

Once the numbers are dealt with, i'm looking forward to being in DPS stance and choosing different powers than the optimal AM loadout.

Will power interactions be a part of part 1? part of the UI update? or for a part 2 or 3 update? With the changes to the game coming soon, it opens a door to a system that can be altered and enhanced over time. (superpower built with recharge supercharge faster mods; might build that has more power interactions with other powers; Melee loadout; Ranged loadout; variations of those combined; etc)
If anything, i expect marketplace sales of Armories to increase. More lairs too? for more Armories?

http://dcuniverseonline.wikia.com/wiki/Armory

Drive them away

Just because you did not like the AM why should hey remove it all together? Why can't we have both, some of us want to be super hero / villains, not a weapons expert. Leave the AM power regen alone and buff other attack moves, let the play decide.

WHO CARES WHAT OTHER MMO's DO!!!!

That's not an aggro bug. Enemies share a detection range when grouped within a certain distance of each other. You'll see this in all original content as well. The clowns near Clayface, for example, will jump you if they're close enough together (several meters) and only attacked one that wasn't too close to another. Same with other high density areas, like the Atlanteans by the Aqua Guy missions.

The problem with the T8 duos is that far, far too enemies were placed too close together. This may likely have been done by newer staff. The count and grouping in these particular duos exceeds those of any other duo to date. This is escalated by AMs right now, as AMs are AOE centric and can't help but hit multiple enemies. Think, for example, how Nature and Elec's AM spreads the poison and electrocution stat to anything in range. Other wide AOE field abilities like metal's TK push/bolt can hit quite a large number of targets, forcing you to face them all down at once. This said, the enemies themselves are scaled very high (higher than suggested CR), so when you factor in the other issue on the first duo, the lower min cr than should be allowed, it becomes increasingly difficult. The enemies are scaled up the way they are as an attempt to balance and future proof content for a longer duration, but at the same time, there's a **** ton of enemies in those rooms beyond normal.

What players are doing to cope with the amount of adds in those rooms is to lure them out to the bottleneck doorway and try to nuke them ASAP before more join into the fight, limiting damage splitting so the few enemies you face at a time die before reinforcements come barreling through. This often results in player character deaths anyway, and they'll have to filter them down a few times until they can proceed. Mind you, there are also a good amount of enemies in the first duo that you can skip. They won't outright attack you as you proceed down the PD hallways unless you get too close or attack them first. When they're focused on fighting the between clowns/police, you can rush past them if you're quick enough. Most players don't realize that either, and will begrudgingly try to take them all down unless warned by another player. In the second duo, there's no avoiding the mass amount of adds in the party room, but later on they're spaced out a bit better, allowing you to lure and pull a few at a time if needed.

This said, adds are scaled very high, and what factors into your ability to kill them more efficiently is the CR differential royally ******* players over as early as the beginning of the tier. This does smoothen out when you've finally moved into around CR 165ish, but is hell earlier on. T7 is worse. Doesn't have enemy spacing issues, really, it's just the brutality of the artificial difficulty inflation caused by CR, so trust me when I say when CR differential is removed, you're going to be fine. NPCs are all being rescaled anyway, so it'll make sense. In short, it's going to play a lot like how the original game played. I realize that not everybody visiting the forums today was around back then, but you're not going to have anything to fear from this. You'll have to relearn your power a bit, but you'll be A-OK. There are still enough of us older players around the forums who can chime in on what the old rotations were and the Oracle guides will be udpated again. This will work.

Could not be happier with this. Finally gameplay will be fun again, and I might actually be able to use more than a tiny proportion of powers for each power set.

Correct. My comment referred mostly to controllers and an atomic tank.

However in most MMOs dps only do 2X the damage of other roles.

One thing I would like to see is tanks getting the atomic treatment to not have to block 24/7 by giving them innate abilities.

Would make tanking alot friendlier to new players.

Much better. All power abilities available by rank 30. Then pick the ones that suit your character. Maybe those choices are slightly less optimal for DPS role, but certainly not as OP as AM, which was never communicated in-game to new players. That will help new players when they get details of the game in-game, and not told by non newbs to get good or google DCUO AM & WM.

I think a new player deterrent is hearing that in order to learn the game you must use a browser. The information you need to become better at the game is not in the game. Or at least it's not communicated well.

If they are taking that as inspiration for the changes, then maybe a better in-game tutorial for support roles is on the horizon?

Honestly; I actually think that an online only game can lean on online tutorials and those that do not seek it out are not gonna stay in any game for long. tourists.... advertise the special weekend events or weekly events that promote the game in the future, as an advertisement for tourists to visit Gotham and Metropolis.

well they said true melee powers will deal more damage, basically if it requires you to be melee to hit the power (within 7m) then it will do more damage then a power that can deal damage from 13m+

they plan to balance all individual powers in all power sets like this.

Thanks for the explanation. I realized early on you can skip most of the adds in the second half of Harleys heist. The rescaling of the adds hopefully will be done better than it was during gu 47 and if the adds turn out to be a lot like they were before gu 36 happened I will be ok with that.

So if this is correct, does that mean, just two tiers of damage. 7m in does this, 8m out does this? All powers with a range greater than 7m gets the same damage?